"The most common characteristic of all police states is intimidation by surveillance. Citizens know they are being watched and overheard. Their mail is being examined. Their homes can be invaded." ~ Vance Packard

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"•38. No bailiff from henceforth shall put any man to his law upon his own bare saying, without credible witnesses to prove it."

...excepting in courts of traffic, where the testimony of one pimple-faced copper shall suffice in retrieving for the king the cost of a small dinner for five. (I think that was the part that was partially burned off the original document.)

In all seriousness, I wouldn't be griping about government at all if it weren't for the great English tradition of increasing liberty. Sadly, both England and America are now dispensing with that tradition. I'm loving this link. (Bit of an Anglophile here.)